Author 
 
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 16 — :««2W»-J. GPO 
 

A BRIEF RECORD 
 
 '■PROCEEDINGS 
 
 ^rjjoraium and J Jtnpty of %nm\\m\\\ 
 
 IN HONOR OF THE LATE 
 
 &EIERAL ROBERT EBWARD LEE, 
 
 TOGETHER WITH A 
 
 EULOGY 
 
 LIFE, CHARACTER A N1D SERVICES. 
 
 GENERAL ALEX. R LAWTOX 
 
 SAVANNAH, GA. 
 
 GEO. N. NICHOLS' STEAM POWER PRESSES. 
 
 1871. 
 
 
A BRIEF RECORD 
 
 PROCEEDINGS 
 
 
 IN HONOR OF THE LATE 
 
 &EIERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 
 
 TOGETHER WITH A 
 
 EULOGY 
 
 LIFE, CHARACTER AND SERVICES, 
 
 GENERAL ALEX. E. LAWTOK 
 
 SAVANNAH, GA. 
 
 GEO. N. NICHOLS' STEAM POWER PRESSES. 
 
 1871. 
 
 
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 A- 
 
 V* 
 
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RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS 
 
 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE expired at 
 Lexington, Virginia, at half after 9 o'clock, on the 
 morning of the 12th October, 1870. The intelligence 
 of his death was received at Savannah, at 8-| o'clock 
 in the evening of the same day, and spread with 
 rapidity throughout the community, producing uni- 
 versal and profound sorrow. 
 
 The painful event was announced at the several 
 places of amusement open that evening ; the perform- 
 ances were immediately discontinued and the people 
 retired in silence, returning with saddened hearts to 
 their homes. 
 
 The City Council was in session, and the dispatch 
 which brought the tidings of our great bereavement 
 was communicated to the Board by the Honorable the 
 Mayor. The business of the meeting was instantly ar- 
 rested. Aldermen Davidson, Haywood and Solomons 
 were appointed a Committee to prepare and report 
 resolutions appropriate to the distressing occasion, and 
 Council adjourned to meet the ensuing morning, at 8 
 o'clock. 
 
 The Report and Resolutions adopted at the adjourn- 
 ed meeting on the 13th instant are embraced in the 
 following Proclamation by his Honor, the Mayor : 
 
PROCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 PROCLAMATION. 
 
 Mayoralty of Savannah, 
 October 14th, 1870. 
 
 [Extract from Minutes of Council, October 13,' 1870.] 
 
 RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED. 
 
 The City Council of Savannah, as a body, and indi- 
 vidually, have heard with profound grief of the death 
 of General ROBERT E. LEE — a man whose fame be- 
 longs to the world, and whose virtues, whilst he lived, 
 and whose memory, now that he is dead, must be 
 cherished in fond recollection, without respect to na- 
 tion or kindred. To that memory it is due that solemn 
 public and private honors be paid. To that end, 
 therefore, the City Council of Savannah do 
 
 Resolve, That the members of this body have heard, 
 with the greatest sorrow, of the death of that eminent 
 soldier and patriot, General Robert E. Lee, and that 
 they cherish with lively emotions of respect and vener- 
 ation the character and virtues of one so noble, so 
 brave, so virtuous. 
 
 Resolved, That as a testimonial of respect for the 
 honored dead, the bells of the City be tolled during 
 the entire day of General Lee's interment, and that 
 the citizens of Savannah be requested to close their 
 places of business during the same time. 
 
 Resolved, That his Honor, the Mayor, is hereby re- 
 quested to call a public meeting of the citizens for the 
 
IN" MEMOEY OF GENERAL LEE. 
 
 purpose of taking further steps to do honor to the 
 memory of General Lee. 
 
 Pursuant to the foregoing resolutions, passed by the 
 City Council on the 13th instant, I do hereby order the 
 bells of the Exchange and at the Police Barracks to 
 be tolled during to-morrow, (Saturday) the 15th inst., 
 from six (6) o' clock in the morning, to six (6) o' clock 
 in the evening ; and respectfully request the Ministers 
 of the various Religious Congregations in the City to 
 cause the bells of their respective Churches to be tolled 
 between the hours named above, the stroke of the bells 
 to be at intervals of fifteen (15) minutes. 
 
 And I do further respectfully request the citizens to 
 close their places of business during to-morrow (Sat- 
 urday), the 15th instant, and to meet in public assem- 
 blage, in the Long Room of the Exchange, at twelve 
 (12) o'clock Meridian, for the purpose of adopting 
 other measures in honor of the memory of General 
 Robert Edwakd Lee. 
 
 And I do further, also, order all the offices of the 
 City to be closed during to-morrow, the 15th instant. 
 
 [l. s.] Given under my official signature, and the 
 Corporate Seal of the City of Savannah, this 
 Fourteenth day of October, Eighteen Hun- 
 dred and Seventy. 
 
 JOHN SCREVEN, Mayor. 
 
 Attest : James Stewaet, Clerk of Council. 
 
 It was ordered, also, by resolution, "That the 
 Council Chamber, and the Staves of the Police Court, 
 be draped in mourning for the space of thirty days. 
 
 The Wardens and Vestrymen of Christ Church were 
 convened on the 13th instant and adopted the follow- 
 ing resolutions : 
 
PROCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 Christ Church Vestry Room, ) 
 Savannah, Ga., October 13, 1870. j 
 
 At a meeting of the Wardens and Vestrymen of 
 Christ Church, Savannah, Georgia, held this day, it 
 was unanimously 
 
 Resolved, That in the death of General Robert E. 
 Lee, we recognize the inscrutable will of Almighty 
 God, and reverently and submissively bow to the 
 affliction with which he has seen fit to visit us. As a 
 communicant of the Church, we feel that in his death 
 we have lost a worthy member, and all of us a shining 
 example. 
 
 Resolved, That in the absence of the Rector, the 
 Bishop of the Diocese be requested to have appropri- 
 ate Church services on the day of his burial, between 
 the hours of eleven and twelve o'clock. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be fur- 
 nished the Bishop, that they be published in the morn- 
 ing papers of our city, and that the public be invited 
 to join in the services. The pews will be free on the 
 occasion. 
 
 Extract from the Minutes. 
 
 W. W. LINCOLN, Secretary. 
 
 Saturday, the 15th of October, the day set apart for 
 the obsequies of General Lee at Lexington, was ob- 
 served in strict accordance with the Proclamation of 
 his Honor, the Mayor. The bells were tolled from 6 
 o'clock in the morning to 6 o'clock in the evening, 
 "The trappings and the suits of woe" were visible 
 everywhere. The edifices of the Corporation, the 
 houses and halls of the Fire Engine Companies, the 
 hotels, the offices of the public journals, places of 
 business and private residences, all were draped with 
 
IN" MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 
 
 mourning. The people abandoned their secular pur- 
 suits and dedicated the day wholly and solemnly to 
 the memory of the good and great man they mourned. 
 
 At 11 o'clock the Right Reverend John W. Beck- 
 with, D.D., assisted by the Reverend Thomas C. 
 Stanley, conducted a Memorial Service at Christ 
 Church, in accordance with the action of the Wardens 
 and Vestrymen on the 13th instant. The Ritual 
 arranged for the occasion was in perfect harmony with 
 the mournful circumstances of the day, of the very 
 hour itself. Few, very few, among the worshippers at 
 Christ Church that day will forget its deep solemnity ; 
 its singular impressiveness, in unison as it was with 
 the feelings which agitated every heart. 
 
 Equally well remembered will be the effective ad- 
 dress of the distinguished Prelate. Before concluding 
 the services he said : 
 
 He had understood that a general desire had been 
 expressed that he should make some remarks touching 
 the life and character of the deceased. He regretted 
 this, for the reason that silence seemed to him the most 
 proper. One who, for ten years, had attracted the at- 
 tention of the civilized world, and won both its admi- 
 ration and respect, had passed away. He was not 
 only a leader of men, but a leader in our Israel. In 
 the penitential prayers of that litany which he loved 
 to use in the days of his own trial and sorrow, he had 
 prayed so to live that when life ended he might ' 'die the 
 death of the righteous, and that his last end might be 
 like his." This seemed to the speaker enough, but, as 
 more was expected, he desired to impress upon the 
 minds of the men of Savannah, and especially its 
 young men, the fact that the chief glory of this great 
 man was his child-like faith. He was a model for the 
 young men of the South, fulfilling nobly his duty in 
 every station of life to which he was called. He re- 
 marked upon the striking fact that every class of the 
 
PEOCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 community seemed to be affected by General Lee's 
 death: the soldier, the citizen, the gentleman, the 
 christian — all deplored the event and felt the loss. He 
 would impress upon the minds of his youthful hearers 
 that the perfection of General Lee' s character was due 
 to his unwavering faith in his Saviour. He was a man 
 superbly manly, and his character was a refutation of 
 the rationalistic fancy that religion was a thing for 
 women and children. It was the very crown of his 
 manliness. Great as he was among men, and mighty 
 in war, he considered it a privilege to come and kneel 
 at this altar, acknowledge the Superior Power above 
 him, plead his dependence, and stretch out his hand 
 for its support. If the young men of the South would 
 make him their model, they must lay the foundation 
 which supported and strengthened his character — an 
 humble, earnest piety. The Bishop then alluded to 
 the blessedness of such a death as his, and asked, how 
 precious, beyond all things, to him now, was that 
 christian life % He spoke of the manner in which Gen- 
 eral Lee had exhibited his piety since the war — how 
 patiently and unmurmuringly he had submitted to 
 personal and national sorrows which were breaking 
 his great heart ; how steadfast had been his faith, and 
 with what christian meekness he had endured his 
 griefs and been silent. 
 
 After the benediction, the large congregation quietly 
 and sadly dispersed, the male portion of it to the pub- 
 lic meeting at the Exchange. 
 
 At 12 M. the citizens assembled in the hall of the 
 Exchange. On motion of Captain John McMahon, 
 the Chief Magistrate of the City, the Honorable John 
 Screven, was called to the chair, and James Stewart, 
 Esq., appointed Secretary. 
 
IN MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 
 
 The hall was densely crowded, and the assemblage 
 of citizens without, seeking admission, was immense, 
 insomuch that the meeting adjourned to Johnson 
 Square. The proceedings were thus reported in the 
 journals of the City : 
 
 The resolutions adopted at the last meeting of 
 Council, together with the Proclamation of the Mayor, 
 were read by the Secretary, when General A. R. Law- 
 ton moved that a Committee of thirteen be appointed 
 by the Chair to prepare business for the meeting. On 
 the adoption of the motion, the Chair announced the 
 following Committee: General A. R. Lawton, Chair- 
 man ; General Joseph E. Johnston, Commodore Josiah 
 Tattnall, General H. C. Wayne, Hon. E. C. Anderson, 
 Hon. R. D. Arnold, Hon. Wm. B. Fleming, Wm. 
 Hunter, Esq., Hon. Solomon Cohen, General G. Mox- 
 ley Sorrel, Hon. E. J. Harden, General Henry R. 
 Jackson, and Colonel R. A. Wayne. 
 
 After a brief interval the Honorable Chairman an- 
 nounced that the Committee were ready to report, and 
 General Lawton, as Chairman, addressed the people 
 in substance as follows : 
 
 Mr. Chairman : The vast concourse here assembled 
 warns the Committee that more was expected of thpm 
 than is consistent with the solemn occasion. We are 
 here at the very hour of the burial of our illustrious 
 friend, and find our grief can bear no expression. We 
 must, therefore, submit to it in silence. Your Com- 
 mittee present the following report : 
 
 Your Committee can find in the ordinary form of 
 resolutions no adequate expression for the profound 
 sorrow which oppresses the hearts of our people. 
 Upon this, the burial day of General Lee, this grief 
 can only be voiceless as the solemn procession which 
 follows his remains to the grave. Feeling, however, 
 that upon some future occasion a general demonstra- 
 
10 PROCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 tion should be made in consonance with the love and 
 admiration so long and so deeply cherished by this 
 entire community for the virtue, and the memory of 
 the illustrious dead, they recommend the adoption of 
 the following : 
 
 JZesolved, That the Chairman of this meeting ap- 
 point a Committee of fifteen citizens to make suitable 
 arrangements and select a proper person to deliver a 
 eulogy on the life, character and services of the de- 
 ceased, at such time and place as said Committee may 
 appoint. 
 
 jResolved, That a copy of the proceedings of this 
 meeting and of the City Council of Savannah on the 
 occasion of General Lee' s death be enclosed, by his 
 Honor the Mayor, to Mrs. Lee, with the expression of 
 the sympathy of our entire community on the melan- 
 choly occasion. 
 
 Pending the adoption of the report, at the sugges- 
 tion of Alderman Nichols, General Henry R. Jackson 
 was requested to address the meeting. 
 
 With evident feeling and in his most impressive 
 manner, the General said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman : I can conceive that there have 
 been, nay sir, that there are, speakers competent to 
 meet the requirements of an occasion like this. I, sir, 
 am not of that number. Poets innumerable have sung 
 of the Pleiad lost from the sky, but he must indeed 
 have bsen a bold master who could have struck his 
 lyre in the first darkening of universal nature. Poets 
 may sing and orators speak to the memory of a great 
 sorrow, but in its birth that sorrow must speak for 
 itself. The tolling of bells, the hush of business, the 
 silence of this vast concourse are the true eloquence of 
 an occasion like this. I will not mar it by the utter- 
 ance of impotent words." 
 
IN MEMOEY OF GENEEAL LEE. 11 
 
 General Joseph E. Johnston was then called for by 
 the meeting and said : 
 
 My Friends: As I was one of General Lee's 
 early friends it is natural that you should wish me to 
 say something on this melancholy occasion. But 
 when the orators upon whom you have called confess 
 themselves unable to speak, I am sure that you will 
 excuse me too, who am not only unused to address 
 public assemblies, but share very deeply the emotions 
 inspired by the occasion. A great and good man has 
 died, and no words can express the sorrow I feel for 
 the event. 
 
 The report and resolutions were adopted unani- 
 mously. 
 
 In compliance with the first resolution the Honorable 
 Chairman announced the following Committee of Ar- 
 rangements, &c: R. N. Gourdin, Esq., Colonel C. H. 
 01 instead, Colonel R. J. Davant, Jr., Alfred Hay- 
 wood, Esq., Colonel A. M. Sloan, Captain George A. 
 Mercer, General Robert H. Anderson, Dr. J. M. 
 Schley, Colonel John L. Villalonga, J. D. Hopkins, 
 Esq., Colonel William M. Wadley, Hon. William 
 Schley, Captain John McMahon, Gilbert Butler, Esq., 
 Henry Lathrop, Esq. 
 
 Judge Harden then moved that Council be request- 
 ed to purchase a life size portrait of General Lee to 
 hang in the Council Chamber. The motion was 
 seconded and carried unanimously, after which the 
 meeting adjourned. 
 
12 PROCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 On the 16th November the Honorable John Screven 
 made the following communication to the public : 
 
 GENERAL R. E. LEE. 
 
 Eeport of Proceedings of the Committee appointed by the 
 
 Meeting of Citizens held on the 15th day of October, 
 
 1870, in Memory of General Eobert E. Lee. 
 
 Mayoralty of Savannah, i 
 
 November 15th, 1870. ) 
 
 Fellow Citizens : 
 
 I have the honor to lay before you the following 
 report of the proceedings of the Committee of Fifteen, 
 appointed at the meeting of Citizens, convened on the 
 15th of October, 1870, in honor of the memory of Gen- 
 eral Robert E. Lee. 
 
 JOHN SCREVEN, Mayor. 
 
 Savannah, November 14th, 1870. 
 
 To the Honorable John Screven, 
 
 Mayor of the City of Savannah : 
 
 Sir : The undersigned, the Committee appointed by 
 your nonor under a resolution adopted at the public 
 meeting which assembled in Johnson Square, on the 
 
IN" MEMOKY OF GENERAL LEE. 13 
 
 15th ultimo, with instructions ' ' to make suitable ar- 
 rangements, and select a proper person to deliver a 
 Eulogy on the life, character and services of the late 
 General Robert E. Lee, at such time and place as 
 said Committee may appoint," beg respectfully to re- 
 port through you to the community : 
 
 That the Eulogy will be pronounced by General A. 
 R. Lawton, on the 19th day of January next, the 
 birth-day of the lamented dead. 
 
 That General R. H. Anderson, Colonel C. H. Olm- 
 stead, Colonel R. J. Davant, Captain George A. Mer- 
 cer and Captain John McMahon constitute a Commit- 
 tee, charged with the selection and preparation of a 
 place suitable for the delivery of the Eulogy, with the 
 arrangement of a procession and other ceremonies 
 befitting the solemn and mournful occasion, and with 
 all other matters and details connected therewith. 
 
 That the order of the proceedings for the 19th Janu- 
 ary will be duly announced in the journals of the city. 
 
 The Committee would respectfully recommend to 
 your favorable consideration the following resolution 
 adopted by them : 
 
 Resolved, That his Honor the Mayor be requested 
 to correspond with the Chief Magistrates of the cities 
 of the South, inviting their co-operation in an effort to 
 establish the birth-day of General Lee as a Memorial 
 Day, to be kept and revered hereafter by us and our 
 children, on which, year by year, we may have held 
 up before us the spotless character of the Christian 
 hero. 
 
 They beg further to report that Colonel C. H. 01m- 
 stead, Captain George A. Mercer and John D. Hop- 
 kins, Esq., have been appointed a Committee to aid 
 
14 
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 your Honor in carrying the foregoing resolution into 
 effect. 
 All which is very respectfully submitted. 
 
 ROBERT N. GOURDJN, Chairman, 
 
 C. H. OLMSTEAD, 
 
 R. J. DAY ANT, 
 
 ALFRED HAYWOOD, 
 
 A. M. SLOAN, 
 
 GEORGE A. MERCER, 
 
 R. H. ANDERSON, 
 
 JAMES M. SCHLEY, 
 
 JOHN L. YILLALONGA, 
 
 JOHN D. HOPKINS, 
 
 •WM. M. WADLEY, 
 
 WM. SCHLEY, 
 
 JOHN MoMAHON, 
 
 GILBERT BUTLER, 
 
 HENRY LATHROP, 
 
 Committee. 
 
IN" MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 15 
 
 The journals of the 13th January announced the fol- 
 lowing Order of Arrangements for the 29th instant : 
 
 ORDER OF ARRANGEMENTS 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 NINETEENTH DAY OF JANUAEY, 
 
 Dedicated by the People of Savannah to the Memory of the late 
 GENERAL ROBERT E. X-.EE. 
 
 In obedience to the feelings of this community, a 
 Eulogy will be pronounced on the Life, Character and 
 Services of General Lee, by General A. R. Lawton, 
 in the Theatre, at 12^ P. M., on Thursday, the 19th 
 instant. 
 
 A procession, commanded by General Joseph E. 
 Johnston, assisted by k 
 
 Gen. Mansfield Lovell, Gen. Joseph Finegan, 
 
 Gen. J. F. Gilmer, Gen. W. W. Kirkland, 
 
 Gen. H. R. Jackson, Gen. G. M. Sorrel, 
 
 Gen. A. H. Colquitt, Gen. R. H. Anderson, 
 Gen. H. C. Wayne, 
 each attended by two Staff Officers, (and all mounted, ) 
 will belformed in the following order, at 11 o'clock A. 
 M., on South Broad street, the right resting on Dray- 
 ton street : 
 
 1st. The Washington Cornet Band. 
 
 2d. The Police Force of the City. 
 
 3d. The Hon. the Mayor and Aldermen, attended 
 by Municipal Officers. 
 
 4th. The Orator, escorted by the Committee of Ar- 
 rangements. 
 
 5th. Commodore Tattnall and Staff. 
 
16 PKOCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 6th. The Reverend the Clergy of all Denominations. 
 
 7th. Foreign Consuls and Strangers. 
 
 8th. The Members of the Press. 
 
 9th. The Officers, Soldiers and Seamen of the late 
 Confederate Army and Navy. 
 
 10th. Benevolent, Friendly and Literary Societies. 
 
 11th. Citizens not members of particular Organiza- 
 tions. 
 
 12th. The Officers and Crews of Vessels in Port. 
 
 13th. The Saxe-Horn Band. 
 
 14th. The Fire Companies in uniform (without En- 
 gines and Apparatus,) under direction of the Officers 
 of the Department. 
 
 The Professions, Societies, Companies, Parties, &c, 
 named in this Programme are very respectfully^ nvited 
 to occupy the places assigned them in the Procession, 
 and assist in the solemnities of the day. 
 
 To facilitate the arrangement of the Procession it is 
 requested 
 
 That "The Reverend the Clergy," "Foreign Consuls 
 and Strangers," " Members of the Press," and " Citi- 
 zens not members of particular organizations," will 
 assemble in their respective bodies on the pavement 
 on the south side of South Broad street, between Bull 
 and Drayton streets, at 10£ o'clock precisely. 
 
 That "The Officers, Soldiers and Seamen of the late 
 Confederate Army and Navy" will assemble at the 
 same hour in the Eastern Division of Wright ^Court 
 House) square, be organized by the senior officer 
 present, and marched by him by the east walk of Bull 
 street to South Broad street, and halted when the head 
 of the column arrives there. 
 
 That "The several Benevolent, Friendly and Liter- 
 ary Societies" will move from their respective Halls to 
 South Broad street, by 10£ o'clock, and occupy the 
 pavement on the north side, between Bull and Dray- 
 ton streets. 
 
IN" MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 17 
 
 That "The Officers and Crews of Vessels in Port" 
 will assemble in the West Division of Wright (Court 
 House) square, and be prepared to move at 10 J o'clock. 
 An officer will be detailed to conduct them into line. 
 
 That "The Chief of the Fire Department" will form 
 his command under the trees in South Broad street, 
 his right resting on Barnard street. 
 
 The Procession will move down Drayton to Congress 
 street, through Congress to Whitaker street, up Whit- 
 aker to Liberty street, down Liberty to Bull street, 
 and through Bull street to the Theatre. 
 
 The Dress Circle of the Theatre will be reserved ex- 
 clusively for the ladies, who are requested to assemble 
 in time to be seated before the Procession arrives. A 
 Committee will be in attendance to conduct ladies to 
 seats. The doors will be opened for their admission 
 at 11^ o' clock precisely. 
 
 The Honorable the Mayor and Aldermen, the Rev- 
 erend the Clergy, Commodore Tattnall and Staff, For- 
 eign Consuls, General Johnston, his Assistant Gen- 
 erals, and their respective Staffs, Members of the 
 Press, and the Committee of Arrangements will occupy 
 seats on the stage. 
 
 The rest of the Procession will be accommodated in 
 the Pit and Galleries. 
 
 Except for the admission of ladies, the doors will 
 not be opened until the Procession arrives and is ready 
 to enter the Theatre. 
 
 The Exchange Bell and the Bells of the several 
 Churches will be tolled from 11 o'clock A. M. until 
 the Procession enters the Theatre. 
 
 Captains of Vessels in Port are requested to display 
 'their colors at half-mast during the day. 
 
 It is respectfully requested that all places of busi- 
 ness will be closed at and after 10* o'clock A. M. 
 
18 PKOCEEDLNTGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 Programme of Proceedings at the Theatre. 
 
 Prayer — By the Reverend I. S. K. jAxson, D.D. 
 
 Chorus — "All men, all things, all that has life and 
 breath, sing to the Lord" — Mendelssohn. 
 By Volunteer Chorus. 
 
 Dirge — Composed in Honor of General Lee — Millen. 
 By Washington Cornet Band. 
 
 EULOGY. 
 
 Chorus — "Happy and Blest are they who have en- 
 dured" — Mendelssohn's St. Paul. By 
 Volunteer Choir. 
 
 Prayer and Benediction — By the Reverend J. M. 
 Mitchell, D.D. 
 
 ROBERT N. GOURDIN, 
 
 Chairman of Committee. 
 
 R. H. ANDERSON, 
 
 Chairman Sub-Committee. 
 
IN" MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 19 
 
 The apprehension was expressed that the honors 
 about to be paid to the memory of General Lee had 
 been deferred to too late a period ; that time had 
 assuaged the grief, and the intensity of the public feel- 
 ing evoked at the moment of his death. But the in- 
 terest with which the "Order of Arrangements" was 
 received by the community indicated that this fear was 
 unfounded. Subsequent events demonstrated that it 
 was. 
 
 The morning of the 19th January dawned with 
 auspicious brightness on our fair city. There were 
 evidences everywhere, at an early hour, that the heart 
 of the people was in unison with the solemnities to 
 which the day had been dedicated. The city wore 
 again the habiliments of mourning ; people on the 
 streets, of all classes, were sedate and grave ; 
 places of business were closed at the hour pre- 
 scribed, and the people repaired to the appointed place 
 of assembly to take the part assigned them in the cere- 
 monies of the occasion. No discontents, no haltings 
 were visible anywhere, or in any one ; the duty of the 
 day was to do honor to the memory of one very precious 
 in our affections ; it was a duty very grateful to all, 
 and self was forgotten in the offices of reverence and 
 love. 
 
 At 11 o'clock the tolling of the bells announced the 
 hour for the arrangement of the Procession. At half 
 after 11 the formation was completed, under the direc- 
 tion of General Robert H. Anderson, acting Marshal. 
 
 At this juncture a change in the "Order of Arrange- 
 ments" became necessary. A messenger from the 
 Theatre reported the building already over-crowded 
 with ladies, and a large concourse, still without, seek- 
 ing admission. There was, to be accommodated also, 
 the Procession, stretching along South Broad, from 
 Drayton beyond Barnard Street, numbering some two 
 thousand men, and the people, besides, hanging about 
 
20 PROCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 it, and on the streets. It was determined to abandon 
 the Theatre and repair to Forsyth Park. 
 
 The expediency of the change was universally re- 
 cognized, and when announced at the Theatre, the 
 people and the "Volunteer Choir," assembled there, 
 adjourned with cheerfulness to the Park. 
 
 Presently a great shout (the only sound heard in 
 the city that day, save the solemn tolling of bells and 
 strains of music to which the Procession moved,) an- 
 nounced the appearance of General Johnston, attended 
 by the distinguished officers mentioned in the "Order 
 of Arrangements." Passing up the line, amidst en- 
 thusiastic and continued demonstrations of honor and 
 affection, General Johnston took his position at the 
 head of the Procession. Conducted by him, the Pro- 
 cession then moved by the streets designated, to Bull, 
 and by Bull ■ to the Park, and entering by the main 
 Northern gate, approached the stand from which the 
 Eulogy was to be delivered. 
 
 Through the energy of Colonel Olmstead, in 
 charge of the arrangements at the Theatre, the stand, 
 notwithstanding the briefness of the notice, was pre- 
 pared, and ready when the Procession arrived in the 
 Park; the "Volunteer Choir" was established in a 
 suitable position in front of the stand, and the large 
 concourse of people disposed around. 
 
 The Orator, accompanied by the officiating clergy- 
 men, the Honorable the Mayor, and Chairman of the 
 Committee of Arrangements, and by General Johnston 
 and Staff, was conducted to the stand, and the Proces- 
 sion was arranged in the grounds around. 
 
 The proceedings, with a slight exception to be 
 noticed presently, were in accordance 'with the Pro- 
 gramme announced for the Theatre. 
 
 That great gathering of people in Forsyth Park, 
 larger than any ever before known in Savannah, was 
 very soon silent and still, when the Reverend Dr. 
 Axson rose, and in fervent prayer to the Throne of 
 
IN" MEMOKY OF GENERAL LEE. 21 
 
 Grace implored the Divine Blessing on onr city and 
 people and on their proceedings that day. 
 
 Mendelssohn's impressive Chorus had been sung 
 with effect, the Dirge was performed by the Band and 
 the Eulogist appeared before his audience. It would 
 be needless, if it was within the scope of this 
 Record, to speak of the discourse pronounced by 
 General Lawton. His fellow-citizens have stamped 
 upon it the seal of their high approval ; it is now the 
 abiding record of their veneration for the lamented 
 Lee. 
 
 The feeling which pervaded that vast assembly, 
 "numbering some eight thousand souls, was visible in 
 its demeanor. It stood (for but few were seated) for 
 full one hour and a half with attention fixed, steadfast- 
 ly, on the Eulogist, absorbing each word and sentence 
 which fell from his lips ; excited and deeply moved, 
 no loud applause (in discord with the solemnity of the 
 occasion) rent the air ; the theme of the speaker was 
 sacred with his audience, and silence, profound, reigned 
 throughout it. 
 
 But an incident was at hand to break this silence, 
 and impress upon the scene the still deeper solemnity 
 of a religious service. The task of the Eulogist was 
 finished. It was announced that the Doxology would 
 be sung in place of the Anthem appointed, and the 
 audience was invited to unite in it with the Choir. 
 Then the long suppressed feeling of the people had 
 utterance, breaking forth in thanksgiving and praise 
 to the Universal Father, the Giver of all good, and — 
 
 "Praise God, from whom all blessings {low, 
 Praise Him, all creatures here below ; 
 Praise Him above, ye heavenly host ; 
 Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" — 
 
 ascended to Heaven in one grand, solemn strain from 
 hundreds of hearts and tongues. 
 
22 PROCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 The Reverend Dr. Mitchell concluded the ceremo- 
 nies and services of the day with prayer, and a bene- 
 diction : 
 
 "Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of 
 those who depart hence in the Lord, and with whom 
 the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from 
 the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity ; We 
 give thee hearty thanks for the good examples of all 
 those thy servants, who, having finished their course 
 in faith, do row rest from their labors. And we 
 beseech thee, that we, with all those who are departed 
 in the true faith of thy holy Name, may have our per- 
 fect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, 
 in thy eternal and everlasting glory ; through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. Amen.-' 
 
 1 ' Almighty and everlasting God, who dost govern all 
 things in heaven and earth ; Mercifully hear the sup- 
 plications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all 
 the days of our life ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 Amen.' 1 '' 
 
 ' ' The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of 
 God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with 
 us all evermore. Amen." 
 
 Thus closed the day dedicated to" the memory of 
 Robert Edward Lee. It was kept as a Sabbath 
 day. No noisy demonstrations, no pageantry marked 
 its observances ; they were simple, without ostentation 
 or parade, the unaffected expression of a people' s grief. 
 
IN MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 23 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 SAVANNAH, 21st January, 1871. 
 General A. R. Lawton, 
 My Dear Sir: 
 
 I am instructed by the Committee of Arrangements to 
 solicit for publication the Eulogy on the " Life, Character and 
 Services of the late General Robert E. Lee," pronounced by you 
 before the people of Savannah, assembled in Forsyth Park, on 
 Thursday, the 19th inst. In complying ^th this request, you will 
 respond to the wishes of the community. 
 
 Permit me to avail of this occasion to thank you, on behalf of 
 the Committee, for the able and acceptable manner the duty im- 
 posed on you, through them, was discharged. 
 I am, my Dear" Sir, 
 
 With high respect and regard, 
 Yours, Very Truly, 
 
 ROBERT N. GOURDIN, 
 Chairman of Committee, &c. , &c. 
 
 SAVANNAH, 26th January, 1871. 
 Robert N. Gourdin, Esq., 
 
 Chairman, &c. 
 My Dear Sir: 
 
 Your note of the 21st inst. was left at my office while 
 I was temporarily absent from the city, and you will please pardon 
 the delay in replying. 
 
 The Eulogy delivered by me, on the 19th inst., on the "Life and 
 Character of General Lee," was prepared only to be spoken; and 
 not with a view to its publication. Had it been pronounced in a 
 suitable building, (as intended,) where all who were present could 
 hear, I would have asked leave to adhere to a rule which I pre- 
 scribed for myself long since— not to print that which was intended 
 only for a present audience. But as circumstances, arising at the last 
 moment, compelled the delivery of the address in the open air, I 
 cannot refuse to comply with the wishes of the Committee, so 
 kindly expressed in your note. 
 The manuscript is at your service. 
 
 With sincere regard, 
 
 I am, Very Truly Yours, 
 
 A. R. LAWTON. 
 
24 PEOCEEDINGS AT" SAVANNAH 
 
 EULOGY. 
 
 Nearly seventy-one years ago, in conformity with a 
 resolution of the Congress of the United States, and a 
 proclamation of the President — on the anniversary of 
 the birthday of WAStfriisrGTON" — the people of every city, 
 town, village and hamlet, assembled in public meet- 
 ings, to testify their grief by suitable eulogies and 
 public prayers, and render their heartfelt tribute of 
 affection for the memory of the Father of Ms country. 
 The grief was universal, and the testimonials such as 
 could be claimed by him, who had given existence to 
 a young Republic, of free and happy people. All 
 that was said and done on that solemn occasion, was 
 under the sanction and connected with the organization 
 of a powerful government, which he had been chiefly 
 instrumental in creating. The great captain and states- 
 man of the generation in which he lived, he died a con- 
 queror in the field, and the successful founder of an 
 empire. 
 
 To-day, we meet to do homage to the memory 
 of one, whose great struggles and trials in the 
 field — with all his mighty efforts to accomplish what 
 his and our hearts most desired — resulted in final dis- 
 aster, and the surrender of the patriot armies which he 
 led — who lived not to see any of the direct or mate- 
 rial results accomplished to which these stupendous 
 struggles were directed. With no government to an- 
 nounce his death, and no organization to preserve his 
 memory, we are here to-day, my friends, summoned 
 only by the spontaneous impulses of our hearts, to 
 mourn the loss, and commemorate the virtues of 
 
IN MEMOKY OF GENERAL LEE. 25 
 
 Robert E. Lee. The entire people of this Southern 
 land mourn him with a sorrow all the more touching, 
 for the pathos there is in the fallen fortunes of the truly 
 great and good, and with a measure of respect, admi- 
 ration and gratitude, such as have never been evoked 
 from any people under the sun. At the hour of his 
 death, without power, without place, the chieftain of 
 a lost cause, yet was he the most illustrious and beloved 
 personage of the age in which he lived — upon whom 
 dearest hopes were confidently fixed in times of fearful 
 trial and suffering, and when hope was gone, confi- 
 dence, respect and veneration remained, intensi- 
 fied and illustrated by the utmost love and affec- 
 tion of this entire land. Such is the result of the life 
 and death of General Lee ; such is the spectacle pre- 
 sented by this assemblage of a sorrowing people ! 
 
 Why is this so ? What were the elements -of his 
 character, and what the events of his life ; what had 
 he done and suffered, which made him so truly great 
 and good, and caused him to be respected, admired 
 and beloved, beyond all other men of the century in 
 which he lived % To find response to these enquiries, is 
 the perilous task which your kindness has assigned 
 me. While we must look to his own character, his 
 own deeds, and his own virtues, for the true causes 
 which combine to produce the results we now contem- 
 plate, and place him far above the necessity of appeal- 
 ing to heraldry or ancestry for his title to glory and 
 renown, these influences are not to be disregarded; nor 
 is the power of race to be lightly spoken of, even in 
 the formation of such a sublime character as his. 
 
 Descended from an old and prominent family in Eng- 
 land, one of whom passed over the channel with William 
 the Conqueror, and another as first Earl of Litchfield, 
 at the head of his company of Cavaliers, accompanied 
 Richard Cceur de Leon, in the third Crusade, their 
 armor may be seen in its appropriate place in the 
 Tower of London, and banners surmounted by the 
 
26 PROCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 family arms found in the chapel at Windsor 
 Palace. And from the settlement of Virginia to the 
 present day, they have filled the highest offices, Colo- 
 nial, State and Federal, in the Cabinet and in the field. 
 But, perhaps, no one of this extraordinary family has 
 given evidence of greater natural powers, or greater 
 aptitude for public affairs, military and civil, than the 
 immediate ancestor of General Lee, "Light Horse 
 Harry" of the Revolution. Accustomed to think of him 
 merely as the bold and dashing partisan leader, the 
 favorite of Washington, the great support of Greene, we 
 too Often forget that he was also a consummate orator, 
 and endowed with the most exquisite classical taste. 
 His letters to his oldest son are full of the most beauti- 
 ful classical allusions ; and in one of them he discuss- 
 ed like a master, the sublime doctrine of the Immor- 
 tality of the Soul. But above all did he inculcate 
 truth and self-command upon his children. 
 
 AVith such an ancestry, and such a father, Robert 
 E. Lee was born 19th January, 1807, at Stratford, in 
 Westmoreland county, Virginia — the birth-place of 
 many of the most distinguished men of that State. 
 As he lost his father when he was but eleven years of 
 age, his boyhood was passed under the influence and 
 in the society of a tender mother. In due time he en- 
 tered the military academy at West Point, and gradu- 
 ated in 1829, with the first honors of his class, and with 
 a reputation so pure and stainless as to mark him for 
 special honor in the future. Commissioned in the Corps 
 of Engineers, the handsome young lieutenant promptly 
 acquired such distinction as the quiet duties assigned 
 to that branch of the army in time of peace rendered 
 possible ; while his social qualities and manly graces 
 made him a prime favorite in every circle in which he 
 moved. At the age of twenty-five he was married to 
 Mary Custis, the great-grand-daughter of Martha 
 Washington. In quietness and peace, performing 
 every official, social and domestic duty, he led such a 
 
IN MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 27 
 
 life as his tastes affected and his duties permitted, un- 
 observed and without ostentation, until the breaking 
 out of the Mexican War in 1846. Assigned then to 
 duty on General Scott's staff, in charge of the Engi- 
 neer department, he had the first opportunity of dis- 
 playing that marked capacity and matchless skill 
 which afterwards culminated in the leader of the Con- 
 federate armies. And here was exhibited that stern 
 devotion to duty, that true genius, always equal 
 to the emergency, that cheerful endurance of priva- 
 tion and hardship, that modest gallantry, which placed 
 him promptly in the foremost rank of his profession, 
 and caused the finger of the army to be pointed at 
 him as the man upon whom greatness had already set 
 its seal — who must be called, in some emergency, 
 to be the leader of the armies of the Republic. Three 
 times breveted for distinguished services in Mexico, 
 he returned home on the advent of peace to find him- 
 self already famous — the distinguished commanding 
 General having declared, in the most conspicuous 
 manner, that the glorious and continued success which 
 crowned the arms of the United States in Mexico was 
 owing, in a large measure, to the skill, valor and un- 
 daunted courage of Robert E. Lee. And even at that 
 early day did General Scott announce, that it was his 
 purpose to recommend Lee as his successor in the 
 chief command, in the event of his death or inability 
 to perform the duties of that high position. And yet 
 his modesty was, if possible, more conspicuous than 
 his reputation. Never elated, none could have learned 
 from his conduct or conversation, that he had ever trod 
 any other than the peaceful paths of social and domes- 
 tic life. 
 
 "After a short lapse of time he was assigned to the 
 distinguished and responsible position of Superinten- 
 dent of the military academy at West Point ; where 
 he won for himself a reputation for administrative 
 ability, firmness and courtesy in the discharge of duty, 
 
28 PKOCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 and a capacity to meet all the exigencies of that 
 peculiar government found only at West Point, 
 of which any man might well have been proud. In a 
 position so admirably adapted to his capacity, 
 and within reach of all the refinements of social 
 life, he might have remained during the residue 
 of his days, for all that then appeared to the con- 
 trary. But when new regiments were added to the 
 army in 1855, it found him only a captain of engineers, 
 though a colonel by brevet, and the distinction he had 
 won entitled him to the commission which was then 
 offered, of lieutenant colonel of cavalry. With the 
 true instincts of a soldier, he could not refuse the pro- 
 motion tendered ; though its acceptance involved a 
 transfer from the social and domestic life he loved so 
 well, to the life of a cavalry officer on the Indian fron- 
 tier, far separated from home and friends. In cheer- 
 ful and quiet discharge of these duties he was found, 
 when those political troubles loomed up, and those 
 events were about to transpire, which promptly elevated 
 him from a position of comparative obscurity, to the 
 very highest place among the most famous and re- 
 nowned of the present century. 
 
 Opposing theories of government, and antagonistic 
 constructions placed upon the Constitution, had early 
 divided the people of the United States into two great 
 parties, and the war between them had been angry 
 indeed for more than forty years — the advocates of cen- 
 tralizing power, by the very possession of that power, 
 first gradually, and then by rapid strides, gained upon 
 those who struggled for the sovereignty of the States 
 and the right of local self-government. Deaf to the 
 admonitions of the fathers of the Constitution and to 
 some of the mightiest arguments ever put forth in in- 
 tellectual combat, this party, with an appetite for 
 power, which "grew by what it fed on," pressed on 
 to the climax, which was reached in the election of 
 Abraham Lincoln in 1860. The States of the 
 
IN" MEMOKY OF GENERAL LEE. 29 
 
 South, when the fundamental law as established 
 by their fathers had been violated, seeing no 
 hope of redress — the mere form of government had 
 become destructive of the ends for which it was estab- 
 lished — resolved, in the exercise of sovereign rights, to 
 withdraw from the league into which they had entered 
 in good faith. The States thus withdrawing were 
 denied the right to "depart in peace," and on the first 
 attempt at "coercion" by the Federal Government, the 
 argument was. exhausted, and there was a resort to 
 arms. 
 
 Lee, a Virginian born and bred, all the traditions 
 and glory of his ancestors, all the impulses of his 
 noble heart, impelled him to share the fortunes and 
 accept the fate of his native Commonwealth. An 
 officer, 'tis true, of the Federal government, lent to 
 that government by the State of Virginia ; and only 
 so long as Virginia consented thereto. He had fought 
 under its flag, and furnished his shining contribution 
 to that track of glory left by the victorious march of 
 its armies. Sad and painful indeed was the issue pre- 
 sented, but he did not hesitate a moment to tread the 
 path of duty ; and decided at once not to remain in a 
 position where he could be called upon to raise his 
 hand against his relatives, his children and his home, 
 and the grand old Commonwealth, to which his alle- 
 giance was due. He resigned his commission in the 
 United States army (on the 20th of April 1861,) in a* 
 letter full of sadness and pathos, and tendered his ser- 
 vices to his own Virginia. Placed at once in chief 
 command of the forces raised by that State, when Vir- 
 ginia became one of the "Confederate States of Ameri- 
 ca," he was transferred, with all these troops, to the ar- 
 mies of the young Republic. He received the commis- 
 sion of full General in the army of the Confederate 
 States ; and the prestige of his name, and the opinions 
 already formed of his wonderful capacity for military 
 command, at once marked him for the confidence and 
 
30 PROCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 the hopes of a gallant and struggling people. Insen- 
 sibly to himself he stood up as one of those 
 
 " Men on whose shoulders at a moment's warning 
 The weight of weightiest interests was flung, 
 Who in the conflict can not shrink, or pause 
 Tho' for mere breath — and* still must lift their crests 
 Knight like — and mid the clang and clash of blows, 
 Gigantic hold their fame up with firm hands 
 And a grand issue, grandly vindicate." 
 
 He returned from the campaign in Western Virginia 
 in 1861, bearing the heavy weight of defeat ; and un- 
 appreciated by the people whom he had served. But 
 no murmur escaped him, nor was any attempt made 
 to shift the painful responsibility from his own shoul- 
 ders to those of others. The service rendered in the 
 autumn of that year, in organizing and fortifying, for 
 the defence of the coast of South Carolina and Geor- 
 gia, was of great importance. Recalled to Richmond 
 in the spring of 1862, he became, for a short time, the 
 military adviser of the executive government. And 
 while cheerfully, and earnestly, in the discharge of 
 duties, the most modest and least conspicuous which 
 could attach to his rank, a severe wound deprived the 
 Army of Northern Virginia of its distinguished com- 
 mander ; and Gen. Lee was assigned to that position 
 on the 3d of June. When he assumed the com- 
 mand, he had had no connection whatever, by per- 
 *sonal intercourse, or recent command, with the troops 
 which composed that army. His military service thus 
 far had excited no enthusiasm. On the contrary, the 
 comparative obscurity to which the first fourteen 
 months of the war had consigned him, caused some 
 misgivings, and for a moment, whispers of discontent ; 
 although the greatest respect was entertained for his 
 person, his character, and the reputation he had long 
 since acquired, in subordinate positions. 
 
 The season for active operations was at hand. In- 
 deed, the opposing forces were confronting each other 
 
IN MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 31 
 
 at the moment of his assignment to the command ; and 
 the fearful responsibility of the leadership of the great- 
 est army in the Confederacy, (the first he had ever 
 commanded in the field,) was thrust upon him almost 
 in the very midst of battle. 
 
 But all doubts were soon dispelled. Not a mo- 
 ment's time was lost. The most active prepara- 
 tions, the most thorough organization, the most 
 complete plan of campaign, were definitely entered 
 upon, as if "in the twinkling of an eye." And 
 while McClellan was preparing for the grand move- 
 ment, which was to place the stars and stripes above 
 the Southern capitol, Lee waited not for the con- 
 templated attack ; but decided himself to take the ini- 
 tiative. With lightning speed he hurried the Army of 
 the Valley to his assistance, concentrated around Rich- 
 mond all the troops subject to his command, turned 
 the flank of the Federal commander, and struck such 
 a series of massive blows upon the well appointed 
 hosts of McClellan as to drive him from his base of 
 operations, and force him to seek the protection of his 
 gnn-boats, far down the James River — giving to the 
 "Seven Days' Fight," from Gaines' Mill to Malvern 
 Hill, a place in the history of war among the most 
 brilliant achievements of modern times, to General 
 Lee a name and a rank among the great captains of 
 the age, the fame of which soon filled both hemi- 
 spheres, and to the patriots of this Southern land a feel- 
 ing of hope and confidence, which served to encour- 
 age and sustain them so long as their banner floated 
 in the breeze. 
 
 But the victories achieved in rapid succession from 
 the 26th of June to the 1st of July, inclusive, which 
 routed the army of McClellan, and displaced its com- 
 mander, were but the beginning of this ever memora- 
 ble campaign of 1862 — from Cold Harbor to Freder- 
 icksburg. Only a few days are passed on the banks 
 of the Chickahominy, in refreshing the shattered brig- 
 
32 PEOCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 ades after these terrible conflicts, when another on- 
 ward movement is in progress. Shall we follow him 
 in that grand triumphal march, through Gordonsville 
 and across the Potomac, feeling the strength of Gen. 
 Pope and striking him a heavy blow at Slaughter 
 Mountain, chastising him at Bristoe Station, and well 
 nigh destroying his army in the bloody three days' 
 of Second Manassas — putting to ignominious flight 
 these mighty hosts and their boastful commander — 
 striking one more blow at "Chantilly," and driving 
 him into the fortifications around Washington, where 
 he also was deprived of command % Shall we cross 
 and recross the Potomac % follow him as he captures 
 Harper' s Ferry, with its entire garrison and equipment, 
 and confronting McClellan again (whore-appears upon 
 the scene, a second time the favorite of his govern- 
 ment,) with the Potomac in his rear, and nearly 
 four times his numbers in his front, fought and won 
 the battle of Sharpsburg ? 
 
 Shall I tell you that he was even then not permit- 
 ted to rest from his labors, but called to confront 
 another army, and another "on to Richmond," and 
 another commander at Fredericksburg, who was now 
 to crush the great rebel leader? and yet the signal 
 victory achieved by our arms in December, 1862, 
 would have been one of the most brilliant in the 
 history of war, had it not been for those which 
 preceded and followed it, achieved by the same 
 commander. We would fain linger along this track 
 of glory, to contemplate some of those wonderful 
 combinations and grand achievements, by which 
 he produced such amazing results with such limited 
 resources, in a space of time so incredibly short. But 
 where shall I begin, and where would I end, in opening 
 to your view a picture so sublime % — events of such 
 transcendent interest, combats so grand in the action, 
 and so mighty in the results ! 
 
IN" MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 33 
 
 We all remember the Wilderness, and Spottsylvania, 
 and second Cold Harbor, and the protracted siege of Pe- 
 tersburg. But we may not dwell on the thrilling de- 
 tails, the marches, the combats, the pitched battles — 
 the solemn hour when battle is imminent, and the re- 
 sponsibility of a whole life seems crowded into a mo- 
 ment — when battalion after battalion is wheeled into 
 line with the fearful silence of the grave ; until the roar 
 of artillery announces that thousands must now hurl 
 themselves to their death — nor upon the brighter and 
 more exhilarating hour of triumph, when shouts of 
 victory rend the air and gladden the heart of the 
 anxious commander — nor upon the matchless skill 
 and foresight, with which marches are conducted, 
 positions selected and defended, the plans and move- 
 ments of the enemy anticipated and thwarted ! and 
 yet they constitute the life and services of General 
 Lee. 
 
 Exacting the most rigid discharge of duty from the 
 highest, he was kind, encouraging, and even tender, to 
 the humblest, who performed well the part assigned 
 him ; the grand central figure of all, he was sublime 
 in dignity and simplicity ; secure in the love of those 
 who went cheering at his bidding to do or die, he 
 needed none of that ostentatious display, so often 
 craved even by the most distinguished military chief- 
 tains. While in careful preservation of all the re- 
 sources at command, in preparations for the hour of 
 trial, in the prompt handling of troops in action — 
 changing plans to meet the exigencies of the hour — he 
 exhibited that capacity which won for him the confi- 
 dence and the love of the army he commanded, of the 
 government and people he served ; and accomplished 
 results, which, by the confession of all military critics,^ 
 and the impulsive voice of the civilized world, placed 
 him in the first rank among the great captains of mod- 
 ern times. 
 
34 PEOCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 Let it not be suggested that this is extravagant 
 praise of a military leader, who finally failed to achieve 
 the material results for which he fought. For be it re- 
 membered that this has been the fate of not a few of 
 the most illustrious men who have ever led battalions 
 to victory ; or achieved that military renown which en- 
 titled them to the brightest page in history. That he 
 who is without a peer in the science and practice of 
 war, and stands forth in modern history without a 
 competitor for the glittering prize, died a captive and 
 a prisoner at St. Helena ! 
 
 To pass judgment on the results of General Lee's 
 campaigns, we must compare the resources, in men, 
 material and organization, of the two governments 
 which sent the opposing armies to the field. He 
 fought against a government of resources practically 
 without limit ; with a population of its own so large, 
 that there would seem to have been no call for added 
 numbers from abroad. In diplomatic and commercial 
 communication with all the world — with trade, com- 
 merce and material for war, scarcely inferior to any — 
 and yet in a condition to draw men, money and mate- 
 rial from all. He fought for a government in the very 
 act of its first organization, and unrecognized by all 
 other nations of the earth — of small population — 
 chiefly agricultural — drawing its manufactured sup- 
 plies from the very country against which it fought. 
 Its ports blockaded against supplies from abroad ; 
 even the material necessary for ordnance and transpor- 
 tation, were not to be found within its limits in any ap- 
 preciable quantity ; and during the last two years 
 of the war, the rations of the men, and the forage of 
 the horses of his army, had to be transported by land 
 from sources of supply five to eight hundred miles 
 distant from the field of operations — and if the track 
 of the intermediate railway, or the locomotive which 
 passed over it, were even temporarily destroyed by 
 the raids of the enemy, there was no material within 
 
IK MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 
 
 35 
 
 the limits of the Confederacy to replace what was lost 
 — a condition of things never known before in the his- 
 tory of war ; and the existence of which, as applicable 
 to him, would have startled from his propriety the 
 greatest military commander in Europe ! Scarce of 
 every thing, and with every thing of inferior quality, 
 (except the noble patriot army that followed his ban- 
 ner,) he must, with painful caution, survey his re- 
 sources, before undertaking any great movement. 
 
 Nothing in our condition has so surprised and con- 
 founded the intelligent observer in Europe. An Eng- 
 lish gentleman of large and varied experience, of high 
 culture and social position, once said toa Confederate 
 General : " There are some things about your remark- 
 able war which we can understand, and some which 
 we cannot. We can understand how one man may 
 drive two or even three before him, under the tremen- 
 dous impulse of daring and patriotism ; and that 
 masses of men, while under the influence of that elan 
 which carried the Eagles of France so often to victory 
 and to glory, and under the leadership and inspiration 
 of a beloved, brilliant and enthusiastic commander, may 
 achieve triumphs against fearful odds. But we cannot 
 understand how one railway, one bar of iron, one loco- 
 motive, one horse, has been made to do the work of 
 four. How, in articles of prime necessity, you are able 
 to duplicate and even quadruple in the use, every unit 
 in possession." And yet General Lee and his associ- 
 ate commanders were brought face to face with this 
 problem ; and were compelled to solve it, while con- 
 tendino- against armies that were supplied ad libitum 
 with all these things. 
 
 Even at this disadvantage, was the whole power 
 of the United States foiled in its efforts to plant 
 its standard on the capitol at Richmond, for four 
 long years. And the army of General Lee stood 
 proudly before it as an impassable obstacle — not re- 
 moved, until he had first given battle against fearful 
 
36 
 
 PKOCEEDIN'GS AT SAVA!N T N"AH 
 
 odds to McClellan, to Pope, to McClellan again, to 
 Burnside, to Hooker, to Meade, and to Grant, and in 
 succession gained signal victories over them all— not 
 until three years of unequal yet successful conflict on 
 every field, had driven these vanquished hosts to prey 
 upon the homes of the peaceful inhabitants (where 
 his army could not protect them), and to consume the 
 entire resources' of this Southern land — not until the 
 mere weight of a succession of superior forces, and the 
 continued effect of attrition, had produced the necessary 
 physical result — not until there had been such de- 
 struction of human life as to sink into insignificance 
 the greatest wars ever known in Europe — not until 
 he had placed beneath the sod in Virginia a number 
 of the enemy's troops equal to the largest force ever 
 put into action by Lee — not until this gallant, patient, 
 matchless army, was reduced to the small remnant of 
 8,000 men, did he yield to overwhelming numbers and 
 resources ! 
 
 And now we approach the closing scene of this event- 
 ful and heroic struggle. At last the lines were drawn 
 so closely around General Lee at Appomattox, that 
 nothing could be accomplished by further resistance. 
 Had he consulted his own feelings and personal pride, 
 he would gladly have hurled even this little fragment 
 of his noble army, in proud defiance against the hosts 
 of Grant ; and relieved himself of the future by meet- 
 ing a soldier' s death. But neither the instincts of man- 
 hood, nor the calls of humanity, would permit him 
 thus to trifle with life, when no further good was 
 to be accomplished by the shedding of blood. Sur- 
 render was inevitable, and he approached it with 
 all the dignity and grandeur of his character. Such 
 a scene has rarely ever been witnessed on earth ! 
 Mark the deferential homage paid him even by 
 the Federal soldiers, as with uncovered heads they 
 contemplate the hero of a hundred battles, who 
 had so often sent terror into their ranks, but now their 
 
IN" MEMOKY OF GENERAL LEE. 37 
 
 captive ! His own war-worn, battle-scarred heroes, with 
 quivering lip and tearful eye, admiring and loving 
 their chieftain with more tenderness in this the hour 
 of his adversity, than even when they had surround 
 ed him with the shouts of victory. He bade them an 
 affectionate farewell, in language full of dignity, sor- 
 row, and pathos ; and surrendered his sword to the 
 Federal commander. 
 
 "Never a hand waved sword from stain so free, 
 Nor purer sword led a braver band, 
 Nor a braver bled for a brighter land, 
 Nor a brighter land had a cause so grand, 
 Nor a cause a Chief like Lee." 
 
 Thus ended the military career of Robert E. Lee. 
 And we challenge the annals of war to produce another 
 so replete with glory and renown — so free from the 
 stain of wrong or crime — so devoid of personal ambi- 
 tion or self-seeking — so precious to the memory of 
 those who followed his standard ! 
 
 Again we ask, what was there which made him so 
 truly great and good % which so concentrated upon him 
 the most intense love and admiration, not only of his 
 army, but of this entire people"? We may better illus- 
 trate than define, that wonderful combination of quali- 
 ties which produced such happy results. An inci- 
 dent near Spottsylvania Court House tells us how in- 
 expressibly dear to his soldiers the life of General Lee 
 was, and how they would preserve it at all hazards — 
 and tells us also how and why he won their hearts. 
 The 12th of May, 1865, will be ever memorable for one 
 of the most bloody and obstinate struggles in the 
 annals of war. Scarcely had the grey tinge of morn- 
 ing begun to dispel the darkness of a damp and driz- 
 zly night, when, after three loud^ cheers had been 
 given, known to be the precursor of a charge, and a 
 brief scattering fire on the right of the line, was heard, 
 our men were astonished and mortified to see troops 
 
38 PKOCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 moving out of the works into the woods, in a direction 
 which showed that the enemy had made a gap, and 
 were pouring their concentrated masses through it — 
 moving on our flank with great celerity, and driving 
 all "before them, in panic and confusion. Gordon' s 
 and Pegram's brigades were formed in an instant, in 
 rear of and at right angles with the line of works. All 
 saw that a fearful crisis was upon us. In this exi- 
 gency General Lee rode forward in front of the line, 
 and took position opposite the colors of the 49th Vir- 
 ginia Regiment. Not a word did he utter, but simply 
 took off his hat ; and as he sat on his charger, never 
 was there a man so noble, or a spectacle so impressive. 
 At this moment Georgia's gallant son, Gordon, seeing 
 it was General Lee' s intention to lead the charge in 
 person, seized the reins of his horse ; and, turning him 
 entirely around, exclaimed : " General, these are Vir- 
 ginians and Georgians; have they ever failed you?" 
 " They never will ; will you, boys V Loud cries of 
 " No ! no ! no !" " General Lee to the rear !" " Gen- 
 eral Lee to the rear !" burst from the entire line, as with 
 one voice : and, as one of the men forcibly led his 
 horse back, Gordon gave the command : " Forward ! 
 Charge!" With a shout and a yell they dash on, 
 through bog and swamp, briars and undergrowth, 
 until the breastworks are reached, and then the shouts 
 of victory, "hurrah! hurrah! the works are ours!" 
 Pardon another incident, given substantially as re- 
 lated by a distinguished member of General Lee's 
 staff.* When the final assault was made on the Fed- 
 eral lines at Chancellorsville General Lee accompanied 
 the troops in person, and as they emerged from the 
 fierce combat they had waged in that tangled wilder- 
 ness, driving the superior forces of the enemy before 
 them, he rode into their midst. The troops were 
 pressing forward in all the ardor and enthusiasm of 
 
 *Colonel Marshall. 
 
IN" MEMOET OF GENEKAL LEE. 39 
 
 combat. The white smoke of musketry fringed the 
 line of battle, while the artillery on the hills shook the 
 earth around. To add greater horror and sublimity to 
 the scene, the Chancellorsville House, and the woods 
 surrounding it, were rapt in flames. In the midst of 
 this awful scene, General Lee rode to the front of his 
 advancing battalions. His presence was the signal for 
 one of those uncontrollable outbursts of enthusiasm, 
 which none can appreciate who have not witnessed. 
 One long unbroken cheer, in which the feeble cry of 
 those who lay helpless on the earth, blended with the 
 strong voices of those who still fought, rose high above 
 the roar of battle, and hailed the presence of the vic- 
 torious chief. He sat in the full realization of what 
 soldiers dream of — triumph; and as I looked upon 
 him, in the complete fruition of the success which his 
 genius, courage, and confidence in his army had won, 
 I thought it must have been from, some such scene that 
 men, in ancient days, ascended to the dignity of the 
 Gods. But at that moment, when the transports of . 
 his troops were drowning the sound of battle with ac- 
 clamations, a note was brought to him from General 
 Jackson. Sitting on his horse, he handed it to me 
 with directions to read it to him. The note made no 
 mention of the wound which General Jackson had re- 
 ceived, but congratulated General Lee upon the great 
 victory. 1 shall never forget the look of pain and 
 anguish that passed over his face, as he listened and 
 thought of his wounded Lieutenant. With a voice 
 broken with emotion he bade me say to General Jack- 
 son, that the victory was his and the congratulations 
 were due to him. I know not how others may regard 
 this incident, but for myself, as I gave expression to 
 the thoughts of his exalted mind, I forgot the genius 
 that had won the day in my reverence for the gener- 
 osity that refused its glory. 
 
 One other incident will present the other side of the 
 picture. On the 3d of July, 1863, the last assault of 
 
40 PEOCEEDHSTGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 the Confederate troops had been made on the heights 
 of Gettysburg, and. failed. General Lee, in the midst 
 of his baffled and shattered battalions, as they sullenly 
 retired from the brave attempt, with the painful con- 
 sciousness that his plans had been frustrated, and that 
 defeat and humiliation had overtaken his army ; in the 
 presence of his troops, openly assumed the entire re- 
 sponsibility of the campaign, and of the last battle. 
 One word from him would have relieved him from that 
 responsibility ; but that word he refused to utter, until 
 it could be spoken without fear of doing the least in- 
 justice. Thus in the supreme moment of triumph and 
 the saddest hour of defeat, with a degree of self-abne- 
 gation, of which history furnishes no example, he rose 
 high above the one, and superior to the other. Is it 
 surprising that he so possessed the love and confidence 
 of his troops, that one word from him could at any 
 moment hurl them to their death ? 
 
 Even in the sad condition in which the South found 
 itself after the surrender, there was work for Lee to 
 do ; and he was not permitted to rest from his labors. 
 In October, 1865, he was installed as President of 
 Washington College ; there to devote the remainder of 
 his days to the education of the young men of the 
 South. And it would do injustice to his memory, to 
 leave out that j>ortion of his life devoted to the simple 
 and useful duties of a teacher of youth ; because the 
 acknowledgement of this service is necessary to the 
 completeness of his fame. In no position did he more 
 signally develop the great qualities that adorned his 
 life. Indeed, some of the very greatest can only be 
 fully understood, in the light of the serene patience, and 
 the calm and quiet consecration of his latest years. 
 The fame of this wonderful man had so spread over 
 the area of civilization, that the temptation must have 
 been strong, if he had nature in him, to mingle with 
 the noble and renowned among men of the old world 
 — where he would have been received with effusion by 
 
IN" MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 41 
 
 the great and good of every class. Princes and sove- 
 reigns would have delighted to do him honor ; and, 
 with his grand reputation, and not less grand presence, 
 he would have found only his peers, among those 
 trained and educated amidst the refinements of courts 
 and thrones. But no ; duty was still his watch-word, 
 " stern- voiced, ice-hearted duty." And in the sub- 
 limity, and yet simplicity, of his resolute nature, he 
 brought his more than regal character, his majestic 
 fame, all his intellectual and moral endowments, to the 
 task of fitting those who should come after him, for the 
 varied duties of life. In the honorable, but unobtru- 
 sive, occupation of a professor and teacher, he con- 
 ferred enduring honor upon all the colleges and schools 
 of the land ; and by his choice, reflected glory upon 
 every member of that profession. And further, he 
 taught the sublime lesson to his suffering countrymen, 
 that even the most exalted fame, and the well-deserved 
 plaudits of millions, did not rescue him from ihe com- 
 mon lot of mankind, " In the sweat of thy face thou 
 shalt eat bread." JS"or did he reject, as unworthy of 
 him, even the most common-place duties of life ; nor 
 would he receive any other support for himself or his 
 family than that derived from just compensation for 
 labor performed — and thus 
 
 " Each morning sees some task begun, 
 
 Each evening sees it close ; 
 Something attempted, something done, 
 
 Has earned a night's repose." 
 
 At Lexington the great Southern leader intrenched 
 himself upon the new battle-field of education and in- 
 telligence, and gathered around him the ardent youth 
 of a new generation, and the spirits of the illustrious 
 dead, for the redemption of his conquered country. 
 Lexington is the capital on the column, otherwise in- 
 complete, of a harmonious and beautiful patriotism. 
 Thus in the discharge of that "duty" which he him- 
 
42 PKOCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 self has said in a letter to his son, "is the sublimest 
 word in our language," he continued to live until the 
 end of his days. 
 
 But in this quiet and retirement his great heart was 
 oppressed by the condition and the wrongs of his be- 
 loved South. He had expected from a powerful nation 
 accepting the surrender of his sword, if not that mag- 
 nanimity, at, least that exercise of policy, which the 
 extent of their achievements, and the practice of the 
 great nations of the earth, would have dictated. He 
 knew that in the palmy days of Rome no triumphs 
 were decreed for the results of civil wars, but every 
 effort used to gain the vanquished by benefits con- 
 ferred, and thus admit them again into the great 
 Roman family. And thus had Rome presented the 
 imposing spectacle of "a city which becomes a people, 
 and a people which embraces the world." 
 
 But neither magnanimity, nor the lessons of history, 
 could produce such a result, with the government that 
 accepted his surrender. 
 
 History # gives us no account of a more unhappy 
 people than were ours, after the close of the war. 
 Their cause was lost, "their liberties gone, the whole 
 surface of the country spotted over with the graves of 
 their martyred dead ; their motives aspersed, their 
 character maligned, their families broken up, their 
 homes desolate, their churches desecrated, their towns 
 burned and pillaged, their fields lying waste, and their 
 children starving ; and the future so dark and uncer- 
 tain as to shed no light upon the cheerless present. 
 The keenness of the anguish which he felt was aggra- 
 vated and intensified, not only by demonstrations of 
 the ardent love which this people bore him, but by 
 that silence which he imposed on himself, for example 
 and policy, and which was sometimes mistaken for a 
 want of thorough appreciation of the wrongs under 
 which we suffered. As he looked with painful anxiety 
 to the future, there was a glimmer of hope that 
 
IN" MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 43 
 
 material prosperity might yet return to this stricken 
 land ; that the waste places might be again made glad, 
 and a generous soil once more reward the labor of the 
 husbandman. His imagination might see, for his 
 children if not for himself, the valleys of his beloved 
 South once more covered with waving corn, and once 
 more the "cattle upon a thousand hills." And as 
 he thought upon the hecatombs of those he loved, 
 who had been sacrificed to constitutional freedom, 
 and the blood of his kinsmen and his friends, yet 
 smoking amid the desolations of his home, his bereaved 
 friendship was consoled by the faith which points to 
 the Eternal Morning — and the voice of the Redeemer of 
 mankind, which says, "Thy brother is not dead, but 
 sleepeth," taught him to look for reunion in the hopes 
 of immortality. But his suffering patriot heart could 
 find only despair in the lessons of history. Freedom 
 once abused by a people, dies and has no resurrection. 
 A farewell once taken is too often sad and final, and 
 we are left to abide our doom in stolid resignation. 
 Such was the picture presented to his mind by the 
 condition of the great American Republic ; and the 
 bitterness was only increased by the fact that the mass 
 of those who controlled her destiny were blind to her 
 real condition. 
 
 " To mute and to material things 
 New life revolving summer brings, 
 The genial call dead nature hears, 
 And in her glory reappears ; 
 But, oh! my country's wintry state, 
 What second spring shall renovate?" 
 
 The cold steel had entered his heart, and pierced it 
 to the core. Grandly he struggled, but gradually he 
 sunk, under the weight of suffering, mental and physi- 
 cal. A disease contracted as far back as the cam- 
 paign of 1864, was slowly but surely undermining a 
 constitution well nigh as remarkable as his mental and 
 
44 PROCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 moral endowments. Possessed of extraordinary manly 
 beanty, both of face and form, lie bad a strength of 
 body and a capacity for action, for endurance of hun- 
 ger, fatigue and exposure, which has rarely ever been 
 equaled. He struggled to the last, and never suc- 
 cumbed to disease, until actually stricken down in the 
 very discharge of a specific duty. From the first no 
 rational hope was left to his friends : and amid the 
 tenderest care of his sorrowing family, after the expi- 
 ration of but a few days, (during which no word of 
 complaint ever escaped him,) he breathed his last on 
 the 12th of October, 1870. 
 
 "Joy, joy, my task is done, 
 
 The gates are passed, and heaven is won." 
 
 The cares of time are exchanged for the joys of 
 eternity — the laurel wreath for the amaranthine crown. 
 
 The first sensation produced by the news of General 
 Lee's death can never be forgotten, but may not be 
 described. Confined to no sect, or class, or latitude, 
 the news Hashed across the Atlantic, and claimed the 
 most marked, attention, even amidst the clash of arms 
 on that side of the ocean. And the unmistakable 
 estimation in which his exalted character was held by 
 all true men, North and South, exhibited to us the 
 first ray of hope that a returning sense of justice was 
 at hand. So intense was the feeling, and so decided 
 the demonstrations, that even they who would not join 
 in the outburst of sorrow were content to remain silent. 
 Never before did the quaint but pointed language of 
 Jeremy Taylor, uttered more than two hundred years 
 ago, more fitly apply to the life and death of any man : 
 "He lived as we all should live, and died as I fain 
 would die. Such was his death, that he did not die 
 too soon. And his life was so useful and so excellent, 
 that he could not have lived too long — Death conse 
 crates and makes sacred that person whose excellency 
 was such, that they who are not displeased at the 
 
IN MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 45 
 
 death cannot dispraise the life — but they that mourn 
 sadly, think that they can never commend sufficiently. ' ' 
 Time and capacity would fail me in any attempt at 
 a thorough analysis of the character and endowments 
 of this extraordinary man. But we are content to ac- 
 cept him as the representative of this people, and of the 
 temper with which this whole Southern land entered 
 into that gigantic struggle, which has closed to us in 
 grief. We accept him as the representative of this 
 same land, in the spirit of retirement from the strug- 
 gle — in the dignity of that retirement — in the attitude 
 of quiet submission to the conquering power with its 
 arbitrary exactions — but without receding from those 
 great principles which were embalmed in that struggle. 
 "There are men all over this land who are sleeping 
 upon memories as holy as death, and amid reproach 
 appeal to the future, and to the tribunal of history, 
 for the vindication of our cause," and whatever may 
 be glory, or the material civilization of the conqueror, 
 truth is still immortal and must prevail. 
 
 "Ah, realm of tears — but let her bear 
 
 This blazon to the end of time — 
 No nation rose so white and fair, 
 
 None fell so pure from crime. 
 The widow's moan, the orphan's wail, 
 
 Rise round thee — but in truth, be strong: 
 Eternal right, though all else fail, 
 
 Can never be made wrong." 
 
 There is an expressive English word which describes 
 the assemblage of many real virtues, of many quali- 
 ties approaching nearly to virtues, and a union of 
 manners, at once pleasing, and commanding respect — 
 the word gentleman — which is so often flippantly 
 misapplied, that we have almost lost sight of its real 
 import. We accept General Lee as the highest type 
 of the Southern gentleman — that combination of cour- 
 age, courtesy, and culture, of truth and kindliness, 
 with a scrupulous and sensitive regard for the rights 
 
46 PROCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 and feelings of others. No ribald jest ever escaped 
 his lips ; nor did he ever utter a word injurious to 
 truth, decency, or to another's peace. He was ever as 
 mindful of the gentle courtesies, and sweet charities 
 of life, in his intercourse with woman, and even with 
 little children and humble people, as he was easily at 
 home amid the grander scenes of social and official 
 intercourse, with the wise, the great, and the honored 
 of the land. 
 
 We honor and revere him as the incarnation of duty 
 — of dignity, temperance,, and virtue — of unaffected 
 modesty and genuine humility — of industry, patience, 
 fortitude, and resignation — a character so grand in its 
 proportions, so complete in all its details, so exquisite 
 in its finish, that when we contemplate it, like the visi- 
 tor who first looks on the cathedral of St. Peter's, its 
 very perfections, symmetry, and completeness, ob- 
 scure our capacity to appreciate its vastness. 
 
 We love and honor him, because he lived not for 
 himself, but for others ; and illustrated by his entire 
 life, that complete self-abnegation only witnessed in 
 the best days of the Roman Republic — and in a venal 
 epoch, which discards as unworthy all that does not 
 minister to material interests, we are once more thrilled 
 with the blessed realization that man was indeed made 
 but "a little lower than the angels." This forgetful- 
 ness of self and regard for others, was manifested by 
 his habit of turning over to the hospitals for the suffer- 
 ing sick all the delicacies sent to his headquarters by 
 his friends and countrymen — by his refusal to accept 
 from the city of Richmond a dwelling house, tendered 
 to himself and family in grateful recognition of his pub- 
 lic services, at a time of his greatest successes, and our 
 highest hopes. These he declined on the ground that 
 his necessities were not so great as the suffering army. 
 This noble trait was even more signally illustrated by 
 an incident which occurred about a year before his 
 death, the only one within my own special personal 
 
♦ IX MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 47 
 
 experience, which I will ask leave to relate. In the 
 summer of 1869, a gentleman whose large fortune was 
 only equalled by his readiness to co-operate in every 
 good work, proposed a scheme for an investment to be 
 placed at the disposal of General Lee, which would 
 (as far as human foresight could provide,) place be- 
 yond contingency the material comfort of himself and 
 his children after him. The only obstacle was the 
 absence of General Lee' s consent, and I was requested 
 to act as the medium of communication with him. The 
 plan itself had been conceived, and was intended to be 
 executed, with the utmost delicacy, and no effort was 
 spared to use like delicacy in making it known to him. 
 Full of grateful emotion, he protested, that all his 
 wants were supplied, and that these kind intentions 
 should be executed in bestowing benefits upon the 
 truly needy. I attempt not to repeat his words, but 
 his reply, full of dignity, appreciation, and tender- 
 nesss, was so marked and decisive, as to make it im- 
 possible to renew the subject, without positive intru- 
 sion. I had seen him on the eve of great battles, with 
 calm possession of himself, when he stood as upon the 
 very brink of the grave, with the stillness of death all 
 around him — I had seen him amid the dust and smoke 
 of battle, with majestic mien, anxiously surveying the 
 yet doubtful conflict — I had seen him in all the glory 
 of victory just achieved — but never before so grand, so 
 noble, so entitled to reverence and love, as in that quiet, 
 retired moment, when, with grateful heart and moist- 
 ened eye, he gave thanks for the intended kindness, 
 but declined the proffered gift. 
 
 To this assemblage it is not without interest to re- 
 mark, that the first service of the young Lieutenant of 
 Engineers, after his graduation at West Point, was in 
 the city and harbor of Savannah, where he contracted 
 early friendships and social relations, which continued 
 through life, and left an impression upon society which 
 has ever since been cherished. And when, in the last 
 
48 PROCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH * 
 
 year of his life, his physicians and the faculty of his 
 college united in a request,- almost a demand, that he 
 should leave his duties for a short season and seek the 
 restoration of his health, he sought the climate and the 
 society of Savannah for that purpose. None of us can 
 forget the interest attached to that visit. With every 
 effort made to avoid public demonstration, the feelings 
 of our people could not be restrained, and though it 
 was arranged with the city authorities and his personal 
 friends, that he should -come entirely as a private indi- 
 vidual, the unorganized mass of our people impulsively 
 assembled on his arrival and gave him a spontaneous 
 reception, more grateful than a Roman triumph ! 
 Noble guest ! Honored community ! 
 
 And here, too, we enjoyed the rare privilege of wit- 
 nessing quiet, social, and affectionate intercourse, 
 between the two great commanders of the Confederate 
 armies. Friends from earliest youth, each knew well 
 the true manhood and exalted merits of the other ; 
 and each with soul too great to abate one jot or tittle 
 of the fair fame of the other. While their intercourse 
 was marked by simplicity and affectionate regard, the 
 spectacle was sublime! He who had selected this 
 community for the pursuit of his peaceful and unob- 
 trusive avocation, was among the first to greet his 
 brother chieftain on arrival, and the last to bid him 
 farewell at his departure. In. this presence I may not 
 speak in fitting terms of one who (thank Heaven !) is 
 still among the living. But I may not forget that, 
 though living, he belongs to history and to fame. Not 
 to institute comparison or parallel — and craving par- 
 don of that true modesty which always encircles the 
 really great and good — I pronounce together the names 
 of Lee and Johnston — twin heroes of the cause we 
 love so well — the joint recipients of our utmost respect, 
 admiration, and affection ! 
 
 The association of these historic names, naturally 
 recalls that other great Virginian — the silent, grim 
 
IN" MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 49 
 
 warrior, victor of an hundred fields — that dazzling me- 
 teor which appeared in the heavens at the opening of our 
 struggle, and alas, too soon went out in glory ! gazed on 
 with admiration by his countrymen, and with dire 
 alarm by his enemies — putting to flight, in the short 
 space of forty days, four separate armies, and closing 
 a campaign in the valley, of which Hannibal might 
 have been proud — while he ascribed all the glory unto 
 the God of Battles — then dying in the arms of victory, 
 at the moment when he had performed the mightiest 
 of all his mighty deeds. 
 
 Was ever such group presented before % Virginia, 
 name ever dear to the Southern heart ! Oh ! Virginia ! 
 Mother of statesmen and heroes ! was not thy quiver 
 already full, before these the younger of thy illustri- 
 ous sons were given thee? E'en in thy sorrow and 
 sadness, thy homes all desolate, and thy land all 
 smoking with the blood of thy children, the proudest 
 nation of the earth might fain accept thy fate, as it 
 gazes upon thy crown of glory with these added triple 
 jewels ! 
 
 And as national character so expresses itself in in- 
 dividuals born to be representative men, we accept 
 these as exemplars of the race to which we belong, and 
 hold them up as a triple shield against the shafts of 
 malice, detraction, or misrepresentation, from what- 
 ever quarter they come. And to-day, in the presence 
 of high Heaven, we present their names in solemn and 
 lofty protest — Lee, Johnston, Jackson — their names, 
 their lives, their characters, their deeds — and appeal to 
 the civilization of the age, to the lovers of truth and 
 manhood everywhere — against the ascription of dis- 
 honor, treachery, or aught that is ignoble, to them, to 
 us, or to our cause. 
 
 In a paper, which has not appeared in print, a lit- 
 erary friend, of this city,* has traced, with rare 
 felicity, the wonderful and singular harmony that 
 
 *Mr. Bogart. 
 
50 PKOCEEDINGS AT SAVANNAH 
 
 exists between the two finest characters the New 
 World has produced. ' ' Though Washington and 
 Lee had no blood connexion, their birth-places, 
 their families, and their histories are strangely as- 
 sociated. It is a sufficiently surprising coincidence 
 that the two foremost Americans should both have 
 been Virginians ; but when we reflect that, sepa- 
 rated in their births by exactly three-quarters of 
 a century, they were yet born within ten miles of each 
 other, in the same county ; that both sprang from pure 
 English families of high social position, and intimate 
 with each other ; that each was the child of a second 
 marriage ; that both losing their fathers at just eleven 
 years old, were yet early trained in habits of truth, 
 honor and religion, and were commended even in 
 childhood for the usual virtues that underlie all good 
 character ; that both grew up high-toned and honor- 
 able men, modest and retiring, yet full of moral cour- 
 age, and followers of duty ; with characters well 
 matched in dignity, loftiness and integrity — exemplars 
 of every public virtue, and every private good — diffi- 
 dent, yet self-reliant, distrustful of self, yet never dis- 
 appointing the trust of others ; that both adorned 
 their manhood by a religious profession and a religious 
 life ; that both are, at home, proudly recognized ex- 
 ponents of Southern sentiments and Southern charac- 
 ter, and abroad, are admired for all that is good and 
 great ; that both, alike soldiers and civilians, strove 
 with equal zeal and like purpose, but with unlike ob- 
 stacles and unequal success, for the right of self-gov- 
 ernment ; each the leader of the armies of a struggling 
 people, the one the vindicator of political liberty, the 
 other no whit inferior, because he only deserved suc- 
 cess ; that now in death their names, equally dear to 
 our hearts, are united in the name of the ' Washing- 
 ton-Lee University ;' endowed by the one, and by the 
 other resuscitated to more than its former life ; that 
 while thus one in spirit and character, affinity has 
 
IN MEMORY OF GENERAL LEE. 51 
 
 established a new bond of union, in the fact that Mrs. 
 Lee is the great-grand-daughter of Mrs. Washington ; 
 that Lee's progenitors were the worthy associates of 
 Washington in the Revolutionary struggle ; that 
 Washington's most beloved officer in that war was 
 Lee' s father — a favorite whom he took to his heart in 
 his youth, and pushed forward far beyond the merit 
 of his years — and that when the death of the Pater 
 Patrice was first honored by public ceremonial, it was 
 this same favorite that Congress chose to express its 
 public eulogium ; when we reflect on these multiplied 
 evidences we shall cease to wonder that these two — 
 Par nobile Fratrum — are, by a marvellous unity of 
 character, enshrined in our hearts forever." 
 
 It was the remark of Lord Brougham, that ' ' the 
 advance which any nation may hereafter make in civ- 
 ilization will be measured by the veneration it pays to 
 the name of Washington." And now, as the grave of 
 our lamented hero-friend is bedewed with the most 
 tender and sacred tears ever shed upon a human tomb, 
 we do honor to ourselves, and to the land which he 
 served, when we swear to cherish his fame, his deeds, 
 and his example, as the noblest heritage to which 
 Hope can cling. While a people are animated by- 
 such sentiments, and hold aloft such an example, 
 their virtues can never die. And as we mourn over the 
 grave of our beloved chief, let us cling to the stricken 
 land he served so long and loved so well. Let us in 
 our daily life respond to the beautiful words of our 
 own poet-priest : 
 
 "A land without ruins is a land without memories ; 
 a land without memories is a land without liberty. A 
 land that wears a laurel crown may be fair to see, but 
 twine a few sad cypress leaves around the brow of any 
 land ; and be that land beautiless and bleak, it be- 
 comes lovely in its consecrated coronet of sorrow, and 
 wins the sympathy of the heart and of history. 
 Crowns of roses fade, crowns of thorns endure. Cal- 
 
52 PKOCEEDINGS AT SAVAXXAH. 
 
 varies and crucifixes tak« deepest hold of humanity. 
 The triumphs of might are transient, they pass away 
 and are forgotten ; the sufferings of right are graven 
 deepest on the chronicles of nations." 
 
 But his name and fame will survive while history 
 lasts ; even though a stricken and impoverished peo- 
 ple shall not be able to respond in monumental marble 
 to the promptings of their hearts, and raise to him a 
 fitting shaft, whose top shall pierce the skies. The voice 
 of the civilized world has been heard, and the univer- 
 sal feeling is in accord with the sentiments promptly 
 uttered by a conspicuous organ of public opinion in 
 England : "A country which has given birth to him, 
 and those who followed him, may look the chivalry of 
 Europe in the face without shame ; for the fatherlands 
 of Sydney and Bayard never produced a more noble 
 soldier, gentleman, christian, than Robert E. Lee." 
 
 In the memorial fields of history, where the records 
 of great deeds are so preserved as to impart to them 
 somewhat of the essence of eternal life, the fame of our 
 illustrious chief will derive fresh lustre from the lapse 
 of time. There the germ of this pure renown has 
 already grown to the beautiful form and proportions 
 of the laurel of our sunny clime. Enriched by the 
 ashes of the patriot dead, and watered by the tears of 
 a grateful people, its roots take firmer hold, its trunk 
 rises towards Heaven, its branches spread wider and 
 wider, inviting to shelter in its refreshing shade. 
 Through its myriad leaves of deepest green and flowers 
 of spotless white, all glistening in the sunshine, there is 
 wafted to us on every breeze the airs of sweet music 
 and the charms of delicious odors. And as we gaze 
 and listen, its sunlight is the smile of Grod, its airs the 
 airs of immortality ! 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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